Migration of Iron, Aluminum and Alkali Metal Within Pre-reduced-Smelting Separation of Bauxite Residue

Abstract

Bauxite residue (red mud) is a hazardous waste generated from alumina refining industries. Bauxite residue contains elevated concentrations of several elements, such as iron, aluminum, titanium and sodium. Due to the high concentration of sodium, the bauxite residue cannot be directly employed as a raw material for iron-making. In this work, the migration of iron, aluminum and alkali metal within a pre-reduced-smelting separation was investigated. The results showed that the content of iron, Al2O3 and Na2O in pig iron and slag are 94.07, 0.11% and 0.013, 9.23, 48.63 and 4.92%, respectively; effectively separating iron into the pig iron and aluminum and sodium into the slag. The obtained pig iron can be used as the burden for an electric arc furnace (EAF). Meanwhile, the slag can be leached by alkali leaching to extract aluminum and sodium.